


Home In Your Arms

by Ka5hew



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel in the Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other, Sam Winchester Ships Castiel/Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23176336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ka5hew/pseuds/Ka5hew
Summary: how Dean and Cas's relationship develops in the bunker
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 78





	1. cold feet in the kitchen

Dean had always liked the idea of the bunker being their home, from the second they had entered it. Sam had been hesitant, but eventually came around to it; it was a luxurious place, not hard to love. But it only felt perfect when the right people were there.   
At first, it was just him and Sam, and Cas. Which meant that it was perfect to begin with. It was quiet, but not silent. You could always hear Sam muttering information under his breath, or Cas’s failed attempts at using the microwave. Dean would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night (less and less from nightmares, and more just out of habit) and would go down to the kitchen.   
Sam would usually be asleep, whether it was in bed or with his head on the table, surrounded by books.   
The kitchen was one of Dean’s favourite rooms (apart from the shower), mainly because he loved the feel of the cold kitchen floor against his bare feet, which was especially prominent at night.   
It was only a few months after they had gotten the bunker that one night that Dean, whilst sneaking into the kitchen to grab some midnight snacks, bumped into Cas.   
“Hello Dean” Cas was sat on top of the kitchen counter, still in his trench coat.   
“Hey Cas,” Dean replied, joining him as he leaped up to sit next to him, “what’re you up to?”  
“Just thinking”  
“’bout what?”  
They spoke in quiet voices, even though it was highly unlikely that Sam would hear them.   
“Humans” Dean couldn’t help the soft smile that came on his face when Cas said that.   
“What about humans?” he asked, shuffling closer to Cas, who welcomed him by placing an arm around his shoulder.   
“Dancing. I was thinking about why humans dance.” Dean lifted his head from where he had rested it on Cas’s shoulder and was now facing him, the haze of sleep lifted as he listened to the angel.  
“I’ve seen it on the television, but I don’t really understand … how can humans feel so much joy from dancing?”   
“Well, Cas, I dunno, I don’t really know how to explain it.” Then Dean went quiet for a moment, contemplating his answer, before he had a brilliant idea.   
“Hey! What if I showed you how to dance? Then maybe you could know what it feels like? Here, c’mon,” Dean jumped off of the counter, Cas following him as he went and stood in the middle of the cold tiled floor.   
“Ok, so stand here” Dean positioned Cas in front of him, moving him by his shoulders, until they were no more than a few inches apart. Looking up at Cas’s face again, Dean’s face flushed as he became aware of their sudden closeness. He could see every detail of Cas’s face: his brilliant blue eyes, his long smooth nose, and his pink tinted lips, so close, that if he moved even a fraction closer…  
Ducking his head and clearing his throat, Dean focused his thoughts back to the task at hand:   
Teach Cas how to dance.   
Placing one of his hands on Cas’s shoulder, he guided Cas by his wrists to place his hands on Dean’s waist.   
“Ok, so place that hand there,” he mumbled, aware of how warm Cas’s hand was against him. How could it be that warm? Once again, his thoughts started drifting off, but Cas’s curious stare kept him somewhat focused.   
“And your other hand goes there, on my shoulder, Okay! I think we’re all set!”   
“What now?”  
“Now, we dance!”   
Dean started swaying slowly, and soon Cas understood too. Eventually, they had both gotten the hang of it. There was no music playing, but that didn’t change anything. Dean carried his own rhythm, and somehow, Cas knew it too. They occasionally stumbled, but it never broke the atmosphere. It was entrancing, and the pair danced without any sense of time.   
All of Dean’s thoughts mulled together as Cas leaned into him with every sway. At some point (Dean didn’t know when) their heads had gotten even closer, and Dean could feel the warm breath on his neck.   
Dean had been to heaven, but this was infinitely better.  
When they stopped, they just stayed there for a moment, heads dug into each other’s shoulders, practically breathing each ether in. It was as if no time had passed at all, and Dean wanted nothing more than the moment to last forever.   
Eventually, the two pulled away, and Dean saw the beautiful smile on Cas’s face that wondered his dreams each night.   
“Thank you, Dean, I think I understand now.”

“Glad I could help ,Cas”


	2. Confused but Reassured

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mary gets an insight on Dean and Cas

It was a few years later that Mary returned, and Dean was over the moon. It was what he had wished for fro years, and so he was even more delighted when Mary immediately cam rot be comfortable with the bunker, but to be fair it was expected (she was a lot like Dean).   
Having Mary in the bunker was nice – it made it feel more like home. She would always wish Dean a good night, and, when it was her turn to cook, the smells wafting from the kitchen always reminded Dean of his childhood.   
That was, until things started to get a little messy. The whole “British Men of Letters” issue and the constant worrying about Lucifer’s unborn child took its toll on everyone, including Mary. She was a lot more irritable, they all were, but the soft, motherly part of her seen less and less, and soon her hunter side was a regular.   
It was earlier when she first came back from the dead that she discovered The Dean Cave.   
Back then, it was no more than a sofa with a couple of beers and Dean’s laptop, but it was still The Dean Cave. She had discovered it purely by accident; she had been trying to find some old books on witches when she hears a soft mumbling coming from behind one of the doors.   
Cautiously, she peaked through the partially open door, one hand on her gun just in case, but what she saw was not at all what she expected:   
There, sat on the sofa, was Castiel, and next to him, Dean.  
It wasn’t that Mary didn’t trust Castiel, well, she didn’t (at first), but she did trust her boys, and if they trusted him, then he must be alright. Except she still had her doubts. How could a supernatural creature have feelings other than hate? How could they be good? How could they be willing to help hunters?   
She had many questions back then (but then again, she had just learnt that the internet was a thing.)  
So, she had her doubts. Until she saw Dena asleep, his head in Castiel’s lap, looking perfectly comfortable and at peace. Castiel, meanwhile, was running his fingers through Deans hair, whispering in some weird language (“enochian” – Sam had told her), Castiel’s expression was much like Dean’s, his gaze soft and his tone gentle.   
It took her a minute to realise the surreal scene in front of her was actually taking place, and she suddenly backed away, out of the room. Her head was now buzzing with even more questions than before, but out of all the things she questioned, there was one thing she knew for sure: Dean had never looked so relaxed. In all her time back, Dena had always had a bit of tension in his face, it was evident whether any of the others noticed it or not, and even when he was smiling or laughing, he still looked a little pained, as if he knew that it wouldn’t last.   
But right there, right then…Mary had never seen anything like that.  
And it was obvious that the angel was content too; the way he had looked at Dean both confused and reassured Mary. She went to sleep that night feeling much the same way.  
It was after that incident that she started to notice the little things: how Cas always reassured Dean, sometimes with just a hand on the shoulder; how Dean always leaned into Cas’s personal space, unlike he did with anyone else; how both of them managed to communicate almost entirely through stares alone, as if they could read each other’s minds.   
It didn’t take her long to figure it out.  
When she mentioned it to Sam, all he did was chuckle and say, “they’re the only ones that don’t know”  
He was right. It was as if they were clueless to the others feelings, yet also knew exactly how the other felt. It was all too confusing for Mary, but she grew used to it, and to Castiel, and soon, she treated him like one of her boys (even though he was much more ancient apparently). They were her sons, they were a family, and the bunker was their home.


	3. All That Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jack catches an argument between a certain hunter and angel.

Jack became a member of Team Free Will fairly quickly, although it did take Dean a while to come around. He spent a lot of his time in the bunker, especially when Castiel was there. Castiel was not his father, but anyone could see that he was the closest thing to it. Castiel taught him everything, about the bunker, about humans, and about life. But Jack still wanted to know more (you can’t blame him for being curious), which is why he, much like Sam, spent a lot of time in the bunkers library.   
The library was unexpectedly large for an underground bunker, and was filled to the brim with books. There wasn’t a bare shelf, and soon, there wasn’t a book unread. Together, he and Sam managed to collectively read the entire library, save for a few books that were damaged beyond repair, and considered unreadable.   
Soon, Jack started reading fiction books. Sam, or Dean, would sometimes take him to a book store and let him grab a couple of books to keep him busy on long hunts. (he particularly enjoyed Dr Seuss books, which, despite being a very easy read, fascinated Jack with their various vibrant illustrations and colours.)   
Although he got books from the stores, Jack still loved to sit in the bunkers library and read, leaning up against bookshelves, secretly snacking on all the foods Sam wouldn’t let him have. It was peaceful, and private.   
Turns out, he wasn’t the only one who thought that.   
It was in the middle of the summer, just a while after he earned the Winchester seal of approval – AKA coming back from the dead, when he was sat down reading that he picked up a muffled argument coming from the other side of the library.   
Curious as he was, Jack silently crept closer to the source of the angry whispers, until he could hear what was being said clearly.  
“I am not going to apologise saving his life, Dean!”   
“I don’t care if you apologise or not! I wanna know why you would make another stupid deal?!”  
“Like you and Sam don’t make ‘stupid deals’ all the time?”  
“It doesn’t matter what me and Sam do! It’s that you went and made the same stupid self-sacrificial choice. Again!”   
“Jack would be dead if I didn’t!”  
“And you’ll be dead because you did!”  
Jack immediately realised they were talking (shouting) about the deal with the empty that Cas had made for him: his life for Cas’s.   
A slight guilt crept into him as he realised he was the cause of their argument. He was desperate to fix things but something told him it would be better not to interfere.   
“Jack is alive, that’s all that matters right now-“  
“All that matters?!?!”   
“- we can deal with this one problem at a time!”   
“There wouldn’t be a problem if you hadn’t made the deal!”  
“It is impossible to talk to you!”  
“Talk to me!? Cas, you made a deal without even telling me!”  
“What does it matter? I made it! It’s done, Dean!”  
Suddenly, Dean went very quiet and Jack held his breath, anxious of another outburst, but the tone that replied was a lot softer than expected.   
“Cas… it matters, okay? It matters to me, and I know I keep calling you stupid for doing it when you actually saved Jacks life, but…”  
A sigh.  
“look, I just don’t want to lose you. Not again. I’ve lost you too many times now, Cas. You understand? I can’t, okay? I can’t –“Dean’s voice broke. “I can’t go through that again, Cas.”  
“Dean. I promise you, you will not lose me. I will find a way to fix this. But I can’t lose Jack, and I know you can’t either.”  
At this point, Jack realised the privacy of the moment he was intruding on, and so he grabbed his stuff and quietly scurried back to his room. What he had heard, however, stayed with him all night, but not in a disturbing way. Sure, he was still a little guilty for causing the argument, but hearing how much Dean and Cas cared for him, cared for each other, it really made him feel at home. And he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more to come soon! being in isolation should mean i hopefully get this finished and uploaded quickly :) also, i cant figure out how to get italics to show up on thw text, if anyone know how, the help would be really appreciated!


	4. Unsaid and Endless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is once again a witness to Dean and Cas's relationship

in the month or so after they got Dean back from Michael’s control, the bunker was overrun with hunters from the “other world”. Sam did not mind it – he had grown used to the noise and had built good relationships with a lot of them. It felt nice to always have some task to be attending to, always have someone to help. It made him feel a lot more useful, and helped distract him from all their past failures.   
Dean, however, hated it. He didn’t say it explicitly, (well, not a lot), but it was evident. Especially to Sam. He knew his brother still cared what happened to the hunters, but he clearly didn’t like all the noise and lack of privacy.   
In those months, he started to notice how Dean would spend a lot of his time in his room; he would binge-watching movies and TV shows, and Sam frequently saw him hauling food from the kitchen. Sam tried not to call him out on it too much; he knew he was still recovering from the whole Michael possession thing. On the occasions that he did enter Dean’s room, he couldn’t help but scrunch his nose from all the various odours and definitely-not-normal smells that had made the room their home. The mess was unbearable: wrappers on the bed, clothes on the floor, guns carelessly thrown onto the desk. (Sam was sure he had seen a half-eaten pizza slice under Dean’s pillow once).   
So that’s why, when he suggested to Dean that maybe he should spend time somewhere other than his room , he was surprised to see him actually listen.   
In the following weeks, Sam found Dean less and less in his room. Where he went, Sam was not entirely sure, not at first, anyways.   
He had assumed Dean was spending his time in The Dean Cave, as he called it, but then he remembered how that had been (temporarily) converted into extra bedrooms for some of the hunters. While Sam did feel a little guilty for that, he was sure Dean could cope (though he was over dramatic sometimes).   
It was one of these days when Dean was nowhere to be found that Sam had a hunch and went down to the garage to see if Dean had taken the impala out for a drive. They didn’t really discover he garage until a while into their first year of staying in the bunker, but even now, with all the people, no one really went down there.   
For one thing, it was really cold, even in the summer. For another, it always smelt of petrol, and Sam hated the smell.  
Nevertheless, he went down there in search for his mysteriously disappearing brother. And lo and behold, Dean was there sat in the impala. Except he wasn’t alone.   
Cas was next to him. Of course.   
Sam wasn’t surprised, and it brought a certain warmth to him to see his brother so happy and comfortable around someone. Especially since that someone was Cas, who had been like family to them for a long time now.   
From what he could see from his limited view of the inside of the car, Dean was resting in the driver’s seat, back leaning against the car door and his legs in Cas’s lap. Dean was laughing, and it was so prominent, Sam felt like he could almost hear it. And Cas, all of his attention was fixated on Dean – the loving eyes never left his face and his smile was smaller than Dean’s, but just as happy.   
The pair hadn’t seemed to notice Sam, too busy engrossed in each other, so Sam, deciding it was best he left before they started making out or something, crept back downstairs to the others.   
Back in the bunker, Sam’s thoughts still lingered on Dean and Cas. He had known for a long time that the two clearly had some unsaid feelings, but he hadn’t realised how long the ’unsaid’ part was going to last. They were still happy. Content. At home. But Sam couldn’t help but worry what might happen if they left it too late, if they never said anything.   
Sam knew Dean would never make a move – it wasn’t that he was a coward, just that he knew Dean didn’t want to risk anything, especially considering how messy their lives were, and all that had happened to any and all previous involvements.   
Cas was just as hopelessly in love as Dean was, but didn’t have the proper social skills to know that he should say something.   
Frustrated with the pair, Sam shook off the thoughts. If they weren’t going to do anything – fine! He could live with their endless pining.   
(he couldn’t.)


	5. Profound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas thinks about what he has with Dean

Castiel hadn’t had a home in years. Back when he was young, he had considered the garrison his home, but now, he realised that that wasn’t what a home was supposed to be like.   
No one there had cared for him, no one cared for anyone. Caring was considered un-angel like. It was a weakness, only made for humans.  
But Cas cared, some say he cared too much. So the garrison wasn’t his home, it never was.   
It didn’t take long for Cas to find his new home with the Winchesters, and he held no shame in how much he cared for them.   
Dean especially. Sam may have laughed at the idea of their “profound bond”, but there was no other way Cas could describe how he felt with Dean. It was different to how he felt with Sam, it was more .... well, profound.

Whenever someone (like Jack, for example) asked him about it, he would call it that, but his memories would recall that night, dancing in the kitchen with Dean, the intimacy of the moment so unique that it could never be perfectly recreated.   
It wasn’t like intimacy they Cas had experienced before, nothing like kisses or intercourse. It was deeper, and he held it much closer to his heart. 

There had only been a few other moments like that in Cas’s life, all of them unforgettable, branded into his memories.

One in particular was a few years ago at Christmas. 

They were all in the bunker, him, Sam and Dean, and it wasn’t the nicest of Christmas’s. they had lost Mary not too long ago, and Jack as well. The threat of chuck was looming over them and they were all in a somber mood. 

After His and Dean’s recent trip to purgatory, Cas was glad that things were better between them, and was hoping that it would stay that way for the coming days, even if there weren’t many left for them.   
They had no idea if they would survive this, as determined as they were of finding a way to defeat Chuck, and it was sorely affecting their attitudes, Dean in particular. He was more on edge every day, and hadn’t had a proper rest in weeks. 

That’s why, when they got a case-free day, and Chuck had gone quiet for a bit, Cas dragged Dean into his bedroom and forced him next to him on the bed. 

Cas liked Deans room; it was bright and cozy, and it was the only one with the TV. Which is why they were both sat there as Cas grabbed the TV remote and opened up Netflix. 

“C’mon Cas, we’ve watched everything good on there!”  
“I still haven’t seen house alone”  
“It’s home alone, and I told you, I need to help with the case”  
Cas sighed. Usually it was Dean who set up a film and begged Cas to watch it with him.   
“Sam and Eileen can handle the case by themselves, also Sam told you to rest”  
Dean just pouted like a five year old and flopped back on the bed. Cas couldn’t admit that he found it cute but he couldn’t deny it either. 

Setting up the film and pressing play, Cas snuggled up under the multiple blankets and let Dean share his warmth (which he did very happily).  
It hadn’t occurred to Cas how natural this had become for them, sharing personal space like nothing mattered. He had never seen Dean do it with anyone else in such non life-threatening circumstances, and that made him question it. Was it normal? Did it mean something? 

But then Dean’s head came to rest on his shoulder, and his hand slowly intertwined with his under the covers, and Cas realised that it didn’t matter what it was, didn’t matter how he defined it. He had it, and that’s all the mattered.


End file.
